The Troll
Born with horrific appetites, trolls eat anything they can catch and devour. They have no society to speak of, but they do serve as mercenaries to orcs, ogres, ettins, hags, and giants. As payment, trolls demand food and treasure. Trolls are difficult to control, however, doing as they please even when working with more powerful creatures.
Regeneration. Smashing a troll’s bones and slashing through its rubbery hide only makes it angry. A troll’s wounds close quickly. If the monster loses an arm, a leg, or even its head, those dismembered parts can sometimes act with a life of their own. A troll can even reattach severed body parts, untroubled by its momentary disability. Only acid and fire can arrest the regenerative properties of a troll’s flesh. The trolls, enraged, will attack individuals making acid and fire attacks against them above all other prey.
Troll Freaks. Their regenerative capabilities make trolls especially susceptible to mutation. Although uncommon, such transformations can result from what the troll has done or what has been done to it. A decapitated troll might grow two heads from the stump of its neck, while a troll that eats a fey creature might gain one or more of that creature’s traits.
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Variant: Loathsome Limbs
Some trolls have the following trait.
Loathsome Limbs. Whenever the troll takes at least 15 slashing damage at one time, roll a d20 to determine what else happens to it:
1–10: Nothing else happens.
11–14: One leg is severed from the troll if it has any legs left.
15–18: One arm is severed from the troll if it has any arms left.
19–20: The troll is decapitated, but the troll dies only if it can’t regenerate. If it dies, so does the severed head. If the troll finishes a short or long rest without reattaching a severed limb or head, the part regrows. At that point, the severed part dies. Until then, a severed part acts on the troll’s initiative and has its own action and movement. A severed part has AC 13, 10 hit points, and the troll’s Regeneration trait.
A severed leg is unable to attack and has a speed of 5 feet.
A severed arm has a speed of 5 feet and can make one claw attack on its turn, with disadvantage on the attack roll unless the troll can see the arm and its target. Each time the troll loses an arm, it loses a claw attack.
If its head is severed, the troll loses its bite attack and its body is blinded unless the head can see it. The severed head has a speed of 0 feet and the troll’s Keen Smell trait. It can make a bite attack but only against a target in its space. The troll’s speed is halved if it’s missing a leg. If it loses both legs, it falls prone. If it has both arms, it can crawl. With only one arm, it can still crawl, but its speed is halved.
With no arms or legs, its speed is 0, and it can’t benefit from bonuses to speed.
Troll Stats and Skills
Large giant, chaotic evil
Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points 84 (8d10 + 40)
Speed 30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
18 (+4) 13 (+1) 20 (+5) 7 (–2) 9 (–1) 7 (–2)
Skills Perception +1
Senses darkvision 60 f t., passive Perception 11
Languages Giant
Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)
Keen Smell. The troll has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
Regeneration. The troll regains 10 hit points at the start of its turn. If the troll takes acid or fire damage, this trait doesn’t function at the start of the troll’s next turn. The troll dies only if it starts its turn with 0 hit points and doesn’t regenerate.
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Actions
Multiattack. The troll makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its claws.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 f t., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6 + 4) piercing damage.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 f t., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage.
